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T20 COACH: JAMES KIRTLEY
CAN WE GO ONE BETTER
IN THE BLAST?
T
Writing this offered me the benefit of hindsight and also a fantastic opportunity to reflect. It reinforced what we did well and posed questions. Ultimately how do we go two wins further in the Vitality Blast this year so we can win it?
he 2021 campaign didn’t start at Bristol on 11 June. The serious planning began during the second XI T20 games preceding the tournament. We got some wonderful momentum from those matches and hit the Blast running with some very convincing early performances. Archie Lenham emerged whilst we were without Rashid Khan, and Chris Jordan led the side brilliantly in the absence of Luke Wright, who split his webbing on the eve of the tournament. We were brave, ruthless and prepared to make positive decisions based on the information provided by our analyst Luke Dunning and the vast experience in the side. Unfortunately, the weather hit us and a string of abandoned games followed, many at home. When we returned we looked a little rusty and more cautious. International call-ups and a couple of injuries disrupted our dynamic and qualification for the quarter-finals looked at risk. As coach I wondered whether we approached a few of those games more defensively. This could have been a confidence thing, but I wanted us to continue to make brave decisions as I was certain this would allow us to play to our potential in the knockout stages. These questions will be posed to the players again this year. Luke Dunning and I have reviewed the whole campaign and I will sit down with new captain Ravi Bopara to get his observations. There were none of the tight finishes we had seen in 2020. I believe this vindicated our way of playing and our decision making. We believed in the mindset we employed when we played well. On an individual basis there were good performances from virtually everyone. This was massively important as it settled the inner belief in each player. The opening partnership of Luke Wright and Phil Salt continued to dominate, and the performances of Travis Head, Ravi Bopara, George Garton, Chris Jordan and Delray Rawlins all dovetailed nicely. All the bowlers revelled in their roles. George found his at the top of the innings and Chris Jordan and Tymal Mills showed their class closing games out. Ravi and David Wiese bowled with wisdom and used their vast experience to their advantage. Will
